Debra decides to return to Miami Metro just as Quinn decides to dump Jamie. Dexter’s control over his life and the people in it continues to evade him. Just when he is able to pack his bags and leave for Argentina with Hannah and his son, he discovers that his need to kill does not outweigh his need to be with Hannah, thus allowing Daniel Vogel the opportunity to shoot Deb and Deputy Marshal Clayton.

Mornings with Mum: Why Breakfast Is No Substitute for Parenthood

Though Thomas C. Foster in How to Read Literature like a Professor proclaims that “in the real world, breaking bread together is an act of sharing and peace” (7), communion in Dexter always leads to chaos. Daniel (alias Oliver Saxon) responds no more favorably to Evelyn Vogel’s desperate attempt to reconnect with him over breakfast than Rita does to her ex-husband, Paul Bennett, when he brings donuts to Astor and Cody. They each seem to be offering peace; however, donuts and coffee in each case are mere band-aids to the real issue. Dexter can even be incorporated in this conversation, for he, too, uses pancakes to appease Harrison and his imaginary elephant friend. These parents offer the most basic form of human sustenance to their children in hopes of reestablishing or reinforcing a pre-existing implicit promise of protection and reliability with their children. While Cody, Harrison, and Astor (to a lesser degree) fall prey to this tactic, Daniel scoffs in his mother’s face when he claims that making breakfast for him makes her feel like his mother again, for she “gave up that privilege a long time ago.”